Puerto Rico lone leader, Venezuela and Mexico in vital duel
(Press Release; WBSC-AMERICAS).- The third day of the Women's World Cup qualifier that takes place in Venezuela left a clear leader in the standings and two teams served for a classic battle.
Early on Sunday, the teams from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua met in a vital duel for both, who remained winless after the first two days.
The Dominican Republic took advantage of nine runs in the first inning and lived off that for the rest of the game to beat Nicaragua 15-8, which, despite that first inning, never gave up.
Lissett Sosa stood out for the Dominican batting 2-3 with three runs scored and three RBIs, while Yanileisy Paulino went 1-2 with three runs scored and Windeily Ramírez 1-4 with runs scored and two RBIs.
In the second game Puerto Rico and Mexico met in a duel of undefeated teams that finally was won by the Puerto Ricans by a close score 4 to 2 to take the top of the standings.
Puerto Rico scored four in the first two innings and supported the start of the winner Angelis Rivera who pitched six innings with seven hits, two runs and two walks with two strikeouts. In addition, Janiliz Rivera came to pitch the last inning to save the game by throwing a scoreless seventh.
In the nightcap Venezuela beat Cuba 8-3 in a key game and with this result tied for second place in the standings with Mexico, with two games remaining in the Opening Round.
Mary Rodríguez worked hard to take the victory and lead the locals to their second win of the tournament.
Puerto Rico (3-0) is the leader and meets the Dominican Republic (1-2) on Wednesday, Cuba (1-2) seeks to stay in the fight for the World Cup against Nicaragua (0-3) and Mexico (2-1) and Venezuela (2-1) will play for second place in the standings.
